The present invention relates to integrated circuit manufacturing methods, and in particular to computer-implemented tape-out form generation methods and systems.
In integrated circuit (IC) related manufacturing foundries, such as semiconductor product foundries, tape-out indicates the final stage of integrated circuit design and the first stage for manufacturing based on orders from customers. After tape-out forms are generated, descriptions of a circuit will be sent for manufacture. Tape-out forms are basically data files describing manufacturing related data and other details, such as mask tooling information for manufacturers or technology information.
Conventionally, tape-out forms are manually generated. FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional method of tape-out form generation. Integrated circuit designers 100 transmit layouts of integrated circuits. Tape-out engineers and/or customers 102 input related data according to the transmitted layouts. The selections and related data may refer to user manuals 104 in large-numbered pages. Thus, tape-out data input is error-prone and time-consuming for tape-out engineers and customers. After all tape-out data is ready, tape-out forms 106 are accomplished accordingly. The tape-out forms 106 may be sent to mask manufacturers or mask manufacturing departments 108 for actual integrated circuit manufacture.
Some partially improved methods and systems have been provided. While manual execution cannot be eliminated, the improved methods and systems cannot be utilized in all IC-related manufacturers. Thus, a computer-implemented tape-out form generation method is desirable.